This invention relates to a device for dispensing fluent material into containers and, more particularly, a device for dispensing fill material such as sand into bags or other containers.
Frequently, it is desirable to fill bags, boxes, or other containers which have small openings with a large volume of fluent material. Examples of the fluent material include powders, sand, gravel, rock, pebbles, dirt, soil, limestone waste, cement, grain, fertilizer, or other granular or powdery material that is capable of flowing. For example, when a flood occurs, sandbags are typically used to control flooding and/or to shore up saturated earth. Plastic or burlap bags are filled with sand and are arranged to form a waterproof barrier that prevents flooding or movement of the saturated earth.
Filling sandbags is particularly a problem because it generally requires extensive manpower and usually more time than emergency situations allow. Currently, the typical method of filling sandbags is for front-end loader tractors to dump sand in piles at a location where the sandbags will be filled and used. Then, workers typically fill the sandbags manually using shovels either by dumping the sand directly from the shovel into the sandbags or by employing a funnel-like tool. Such a method of filling sandbags is very inefficient. Not only does this method require more than one worker, but it is also excessively slow. Furthermore, spillage frequently occurs due to the sand falling off the shovel and onto the ground, both while transporting the sand from the stockpile and while transferring the sand into the sandbag. These inefficiencies combine to make using shovels to manually fill sandbags with sand an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
In addition to the above-listed problems, often the area at flood risk is located in a remote area. Large numbers of sandbags need filling and placement in a very short period of time to minimize property damage due to flood waters and movement of saturated earth. Filling sandbags by one person shoveling sand into a sandbag as described above can often not be performed fast enough to produce a sufficient number of filled sandbags.
Recently, a number of companies have developed power-driven sandbag fillers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,261 to Kanzler et al. discloses a fluent material dispensing apparatus having a hopper for receiving and holding a fluent material such as sand. The hopper has an open rectangular mouth that converges into multiple individual discharge openings. Each of the discharge openings includes a discharge chute for dispensing the sand. A swing gate is pivotably mounted to each discharge chute and is moveable from an opened to a closed position over the opening of the discharge chute for covering and uncovering the discharge chute to control the discharge of sand from the hopper. A foot pedal is operated to open the swing gate to allow the sand to dispense from the hopper while a worker holds a sandbag underneath the discharge chute. A similar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,318, also to Kanzler et al.
A problem with the automatic bag-filling devices of the prior art, such as were disclosed in the Kanzler et al. patents, was that an individual had to hold the bag in place, which could be uncomfortable and could cause strain on the back of the worker. In addition, to fill four bags with the device of Kanzler et al., at least four individuals had to be used, one at each station for simultaneously depressing the foot pedal and holding a bag in place.
There is a need for device that fills containers with sand and other fluent material that incorporates a simple and inexpensive construction and which provides quick and reliable loading of sandbags or other containers. Preferably, such a device would require a minimal number of workers and very little manual labor for those workers so as to produce filled containers.
The present invention provides a device for filling containers with a fluent material. The device includes a hopper for receiving the fluent material, a plurality of discharge chutes, and a dispensing unit that supplies approximately a predetermined amount of fluent material to the plurality of discharge chutes. Containers at the discharged chutes are filled by the predetermined amount of fluent material.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the fluent material is sand, and the containers are sandbags.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the hopper includes a plurality of openings, and the dispensing unit comprises a plurality of carriers that are configured so that each are first aligned with an opening in the hopper where they are filled with approximately the predetermined amount of fluent material, and second are aligned with a discharge chute so that the carrier empties the predetermined amount into a corresponding discharge chute. Preferably, the carriers are cone shaped.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the carriers are located around the circumference of a cylinder. In one embodiment, the carriers are arranged so that their central axes extend radially relative to the cylinder. Preferably, the hopper is located above the cylinder, and the discharge chutes are located below the cylinder so that the carriers are filled by the hopper as they face upward, and empty into the discharge chutes as they face downward.
To permit sequential loading of the containers, one embodiment provides that the carriers are offset circumferentially around the cylinder. Preferably, the number of carriers is at least four, and the carriers are offset substantially 90 degrees circumferentially relative to each other.
The present invention also provides a device for dispensing fluent materials, having a hopper, and first and second units that are removably attachable to the hopper and include discharge chutes and dispensing units as described above.